Ledford takes pair from West Davidson

Tuesday

Dec 15, 2009 at 11:59 PM

BY JAKE MILLERThe Dispatch

WALLBURG | With just over a minute left in the game, Ledford boys' basketball coach Scott Dalton let his team have it during a timeout. Yes, the Panthers were winning, but not quite the way Dalton said he wanted to.“I'm not worried about margin of victory or anything like that, I'm worried about how we play, and we didn't play Ledford basketball tonight,” Dalton said.Regardless of what basketball it was playing, Ledford picked up a 51-44 win over West Davidson at Ledford on Tuesday. The Panthers' Will Essick led all scorers with 16 points, while Dylan Smith added 13. Jordan Cameron led the Dragons with 12.In the girls' game, Ledford keyed on a devastating 26-2 run that spanned the last five minutes of the second quarter and the whole third quarter en route to a 53-29 win over the Dragons. Stevi Williams led the Panthers with 14 points, while Chelsea Freeman scored 10. Olivia Myers led West with 10 points.GirlsA drive by Freeman put Ledford up 14-12 at the end of the first quarter and the Panthers' free throw shooting extended them to a 20-14 lead in the second. But 3-pointers on consecutive possession by Myers quickly leveled the score at 20. It would be a while, however, before the Dragons scored again.A putback by Brooke Baldwin started the run, which included a steal and a layup by Katelyn Otey and a pull-up jumper by Williams. In the dying seconds of the second quarter, Madelyn Leonard stole the ball and quickly passed to Freeman, whose quick turnaround jumper just beat the buzzer for a 31-20 halftime lead.West Davidson managed only two points in the third quarter, as Megan Surles scored on a pair of layups, Williams drove to the basket and Taylor Parks hit a 3 to put Ledford up 46-22 after three quarters.“We had a good spurt,” Ledford coach John Ralls said. “We got in passing lanes, got some tips and deflections, got a couple easy baskets, and then we were able to relax a bit.”“We were knocking down some shots at the beginning of the game,” West coach David Klinkoski said. “We can't afford to let them go on a 26-2 run.”Baldwin led all players with eight rebounds. Chelsea Sarver scored eight points for West Davidson.Ralls said Freeman's return from injury was a good sign for the Panthers, who have been hit especially hard with injuries lately.“We got Chelsea back and lost Molly (Holbert),” Ralls said. The coach expected Carman Pericozzi to be back after Christmas, while he's waiting to hear back on Holbert's and Jessica Christian's MRIs. All told, Freeman, Holbert, Pericozzi and Christian made up a significant chunk of the Panthers' expected production going into the season.“We're keeping the dadgum imaging center in business,” Ralls joked.BoysAfter the first quarter, it looked like the boys' game might be a runaway. Essick and Smith combined in the post, and Nathan Parks' 3-point play put the hosts up 17-7 after one quarter.After taking a 31-17 lead at halftime, the Panthers took their largest lead of the night at 41-25 behind two drives by Essick and a putback by Daniel Lawson. But West's Ozzie Moore countered with a clever drive and Cameron followed up with a 3-point play to bring West within 11. Essick's turnaround jumper at the third quarter's death put Ledford up 45-32 going into the final frame.West opened the fourth when Josh Burkhart hit Moore in transition, and West eventually cut the deficit to seven after a drive by Moore, a fastbreak bucket by Josh Barrett and a 3-pointer by Cameron. By then, however, it was too late.Dalton said he was pleased with his team's first quarter effort but not how it let West hang around for the rest of the game.“West Davidson did a nice job of making us look bad tonight, and I think we did a nice job assisting that,” Dalton said. “We're not good enough to get away with this, and I've got to do a better job to get these guys ready.”West Davidson coach Russ Snyder identified Ledford's defensive pressure as the reason his team fell behind to begin with.“Give credit to Ledford. We got off to a slow start, and it was because of their defense,” Snyder said.

Jake Miller can be reached at 249-3981, ext. 220, or at jake.miller@the-dispatch.com.

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